question concerning causes of an "enlarged liver"

Someone · Guest

Hi there. I'll try this and see if anyone might have some ideas...

Presuming that the biospy result for mm comes back negative, the persistent lower back pain of the last four months is explained away easily after the bone scan results come back, the chest xray says I've just somehow developed asthma in the right lung to make it "weasy", and the 22 lbs weight loss I experienced between July & August turns out to be simply incredible good fortune [u]are there any NICE explainations for my apparently enlarged liver too[/u]?

FYI - I have not been diagnosed with anything. I have spent the last four months being tossed between referral here, wait period there, test there, etc, but not actually being told WHY... (pretty good for a 33 year old without any prior history of anything abnormal beyond an appendix removal at 10 huh?).

Now obviously each of the "symptoms" I've described can be easily ignored and fluffled off as essentially harmless and wholly coincidential (unrelated to each other). Just as obviously, I should remain patient and wait for the test results. But damn, I'm so tired of not even being told what we might be doing these tests for precisely.

I understand the melanoma possibility because of the lesion and biopsey, and I can explain away everything else to myself (though the weight loss was NOT stress related - I *know* what stress is for me - so had to be good luck), but I do not understand what we're looking at with the liver. A "well, gee, it's possible that it's something not too serious such as... " would have been nice to hear. Likewise, if it's NOT possibly something unremarkable, I'd like to know that these tests are important and not merely a waste of time? Please? Ideas? Help to ease my brain? Wink

FYI, the doctor said the liver is "palpable below costal margins". When he "found" it, it was very tender and I finally clued into why I've been increasingly uncomfortable in most sitting/lounging positions (even had to switch the sleeping on the stomach habit), though I hadn't realized the liver was actually enlarged until he said it was. There are no other symptoms (such as jaundice or ab pains - unless someone is touching the darn liver! - nausea, etc..).

Any ideas? Please?! More precisely, is there ANYTHING that can cause a liver to become enlarged that I should NOT worry about (it'll go away on it's own type thing)?

Thanks so much for your time!

leo · Owner Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 1574

Hello

Reasons for enlarged liver include hepatitis, which means there is inflammation of the liver cells. There are several reasons to have hepatitis, such as viruses, alcohol, fatty liver and others. Other reasons include blockage of the blood vessels draining the liver (rare).

Just wait for the results. There are so many causes of hepatomegaly, some of them are reversible, others are not.

regards
Leo
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Leonardo F - Webmaster Cancer Forums
Disclaimer: this information is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice.

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